Infrastructure Development Minister MB Patil believes the Vande Bharat (VB) Express could be introduced between Bengaluru and Vijayapura via Bagalkot once the railway line is electrified.
On Friday, he conducted a review meeting with officials from his department and the South Western Railway (SWR).
He called upon the railways to complete the electrification of the Bagalkot-Vijayapura line within this month and take steps to reduce the travel time between Bengaluru and Vijayapura from 14 hours to 10 hours, according to a statement from his office.
He noted that trains from Bengaluru to Vijayapura (660 km) take about 14 hours because they stop for 45 minutes at Hubballi to reverse the engine. Similarly, time is also wasted at Gadag. He suggested that the railways arrange to run trains via Hubballi South and Gadag bypasses.
The minister also reviewed the ongoing doubling and electrification of the railway track between Bagalkot and Vijayapura. While the Bengaluru-Hubballi-Bagalkot is fully doubled and electrified, the railways will complete the second track between Bagalkot and Almatti this September. The nine-kilometre railway line between Almatti and Wandal will be doubled by August 2025 and the work will start after the construction of a bridge on the stretch, Patil said. He hoped that the Vijayapura-Bagalkot railway line would be doubled by 2027.
A well-placed source in the Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE), Bengaluru, confirmed to DH that the Wandal-Bagalkot section (47 km) would be electrified by March.
Patil also asked the officials to expedite nine ongoing railway projects in Karnataka and expressed concerns about cost overruns. He said the Munirabad-Mahabubnagar line should be ready by March 2026, Tumakuru-Rayadurga by December 2027, Chikkamagaluru-Belur by 2026 and Bagalkote-Kudachi by 2027.
He added that land acquisition for the Tumakuru-Davangere line has been completed. In addition, the deputy commissioner has been instructed to resolve land acquisition issues at Halakatte on the Gadag-Wadi line, he said.
Published 15 March 2024, 23:52 IST